Book 2: HomeFront

Look Who Came to Visit

 Dang, it stank down there! She had lost visual on her ever since she went underground. Luckily, her phone scrounged around for enough bars to allow her tracking app to work. So far, the route April took was very dry. Every turn was solid cement, although occasionally a flow of sewage would glide beside her pathway. That was when Angel had to close up her nose and squint her eyes. How could April do this on occasion? It was a relief when the sewer rivers would go away, but it was not pure joy when she looked up to believe that it was flowing through the pipeline overhead. Terrible thoughts of them bursting, or even dripping did not settle easily for her.

The girl remained quiet, making sure her steps barely made a sound even though April was a good start ahead of her. It was an easy two mile walk, but it wasn't a straightline drive either, so it was debateable how far away she really was from the start. Angel tripped over herself. She caught her first glimpse of April since she got down there. She was pulling down a select few pipes along a longer pipline in a pattern. The sequence accepted it and lifted up a secret door embedded in the brown bricks. The brunette walked through it easily. Angel had to act fast as she saw the door begin to slowly shut down. Whether or not April caught her, Angel had to act now to at least know what it was on the other side of that wall. The Latina sprinted. She had to bend over to surpass the falling door. She grew out of breath. Her shallow breathing made her fear that April had probably spotted her already. Instead, she turned to another door. This time, it was steel and cracked open. This one must have been a normal door. So, Angel took the time to regain her normal breathing to persue April. As her breath began to calm down, Angel was going to walk through the door.

Suddenly, the change of venue made her retreat quickly back to the room she was in before. April was walking ahead of her, but the scene had changed completely. And so, she hid behind the door, watching between the crack and listening. The usual sewer scene changed into an underground home in a matter of seconds.

"Mikey!" April called. She looked left and right. Angel grew excited. She was calling her obscure rescuer. Finally, with the adequate lighting, she could get a good look of him. In no time at all, the sound of someone barreling over thudded in the room.

"Hey, Angelcakes!" The mutant trotted from another room. Angel sat back in awe as she saw the large figure come up and scoop April effortlessly in his cut up arms.

"Is April his Boo Thang?" She thought as she looked him over. He was obviously loving that she stopped by his humble abode. Just look at that stupid grin on his face. From the shadows, he had an abnormally shaped head that was quite large, yet the bulk of his body seemed to measure it out. Now visable, she viewed the shell that kept to his back at all times. His chest was of a similar, lighter pattern that imitated a chest and abdominals. Guessing by the shell on his back and the green complexion, she had to guess he was some sort of turtle related creature. One with a fly style, she had to add.

"You come for breakfast?" She heard him speak again. Her curiousity wanted to beg to him to talk more to calm her interest, but she had to remain hidden. April broke out of the hug to look him in the eye. She hand kept onto his shoulder.

"I didn't mean to." She replied honestly. Mikey took her hand and spun her around to another direction. The woman twirled easily, thinking nothing about it but Mikey's usual charm.

"Well, you came at a good time cuz everybody's done and we got enough for ya." He chuckled.

"Sweet. What did you guys have?"

"'You guys?' 'Everybody?' There's more?" The thought exploded in her mind.

"Turkey bacon, wheat toast, and a whole pot of oatmeal." He listed. Just the sound of food reminded Angel's stomach that she hadn't eaten much that morning. She clutched her stomach, hoping it would stop and silence its contractions.